Two of California’s finest traditional artists received a USA Fellowship from United States Artists (USA), Sophiline Cheam Sharpiro, USA Knight Fellow, Long Beach, and Danongan Kalanduyan, USA Broad Fellow, San Francisco. Both of these artists have been supported through the Alliance for California Traditional Arts’ (ACTA) three core programs.
USA awarded 50 fellowships totaling $2.5 million. The fellowships were celebrated at The Broad Stage in Santa Monica earlier this week. This event marked the fourth consecutive year of the USA Fellows program, which annually awards fifty unrestricted grants of $50,000 to artists of all disciplines from across the country. The USA Fellows for 2009 hail from 18 states and range in age from 28 to 82. Chosen for the caliber and impact of their work, they include contemporary experimenters and traditional practitioners—Pueblo potters, feminist performance pioneers, cutting-edge fashion designers, independent radio artists, and folk musicians, among others.
Sophiline Cheam Shapiro, USA Knight Fellow, Long Beach, California
USA Fellows website.
Danongan Kalanduyan, USA Broad Fellow, San Francisco, California
press release
Profiles on all 50 USA Fellowships for 2009.
ACTA congratulates these artists for receiving this award and national recognition for their work.